So, I took a trip on the
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour.
So much has already been said about how classic the original Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition and its episodes were, way back in the day and over the years. And if you haven't played the old episodes (Episodes 1-4) - well, you should. It was a blast back in the day - and still remains a classic like early & classic Unreal, Quake, Blood and Doom games.
So, we'll talk about the new episode (Episode 5), which is only right now in this package. This episode (Episode 5: Alien World Order) is not in Atomic Edition or Megaton Edition, which would & could be the real attraction of this version of the game, to namely owners of Atomic Edition or Megaton Edition.
Just finished-up Episode 5 (Alien World Order, which was designed by DN3D original developers Richard "Levelord" Gray and Allen Blum III). Took me a little over 4.5 hours, according to Steam. Some thoughts here.
Holy crap, is this episode action-packed. And it's a blast. It's quite good, feeling basically like a new expansion pack or DLC here for Duke Nukem 3D. This is probably the kind of episode, action, and content that people really wanted out of DNF, to be honest.
The level design is really good through-out. There are plenty of interesting levels and varied locations here, in the usual old-school labyrinth level-design of finding all kinds of nooks, crannies, secret areas/room, and whatnot. You'll travel around the world, to levels based in England, Hollywood, Russia, and even France - slaying aliens like only Duke can. There are also lots of huge open-space shootouts & arena-sized shootouts with many of the past enemy types in DN3D and the new enemy, leading to a feeling of being involved in confrontations, action & shoot-outs of epic proportions.
There is a new alien enemy type, new weapon type (Incinerator, which is a flame-thrower), and 8 new levels here in this episode.
Jon St. John is back (as the voice of Duke Nukem), delivering more wise-crackin' and referential lines to things from pop culture, as you'd pretty much expect with a Duke Nukem game. Don't expect a grand story, deep narrative, or any of that, as Duke was never about that. This is a Duke Nukem game...and he's here to wise-crack; make jokes; be lewd; be crude; be crass; and shoot & kick alien ass. And if you're fine with that, you're going to really enjoy Episode 5.
There's another new feature here: you can rewind time and to whatever point you were at before, when you die. You can go back as far as the level began, pretty much! So, sure - you can still quick-save whenever you want; that's still here. But now, when you die, you can also rewind to any point in this game from before your death...and pick-up right wherever you want and for that ideal spot/moment; and to keep you always in the constant onslaught and action. No need to always save and rewind, as you can now rewind - like other older games that have had remasters/re-releases have done (i.e. Flashback). But, great to have both options at your disposal, for whatever reason you might need them for.
While I wasn't super-thrilled w/ the final boss (could've been more than just an enemy re-skin, the new weapon it has, and whatnot) and the ending (not-so-special endings seem par for the course w/ basically old-school Quake and Duke games anyways) - I still had a blast w/ the new episode and easily got my $1.59 worth (being a Humble Bundle Choice subscriber) from the Humble Bundle sale just from this episode/DLC/expansion.
If for some reason you don't own Atomic or Megaton, 20th Anniversary World Tour is a must-buy for classic old-school FPS action from the awesome first 4 Episodes and you also get the new & really good 5th Episode. If you own Atomic or Megaton, you'll really only need the new episode 5 - and that would probably be best, catching this re-release on sale just to get the really good new 5th Episode. And with it on sale now (4/4/2020) at such a cheap price on Humble ($1.99 for non-subscribers of the HBC or $1.59 for HBC subscribers) - now's as good as a time as any, if you're trying to just catch that 5th Episode.
ADDENDUM - 4/5/2020:
So, this is probably worth mentioning for fans of
EDUKE32 Source Port. Episode 5 (Alien World Order) from 20th Anniversary World Tour does work in there. Tested it out and it runs just fine. If you're cautious, as always before modifying game files - back-up your old 20th Anniversary World Tour game-folder elsewhere, just in case. Anyways, you can just drop EDUKE32 files right into your Anniversary World Tour folder; replace any files it wants to; run EDuke32.EXE; and you'll be good to go.
